Red Leather: Tales of the Jacket
by tmpayne80
Summary: Emma's red leather jacket started in the pilot and lasted to the end. This is the story of Emma as told by the very leather jacket that began the show. Too many credits to list, so I'll just say from Season 1 to Season 7. I don't own anything of Once Upon a Time, so I claim nothing. Enjoy!-T. Payne


Red Leather

Second hand. Gently loved. Red leather. A shell for her to hide behind. The journey of my life and hers were to be intertwined with other things. One night, a kid showed up at the door just when she'd hit bottom. A single cupcake and flame from a solitary candle had begun a story of the impossible. This ten year old boy named Henry had guided us to Storybrooke, a place not known to anyone else in the world but those two.

From there more adventures followed. Emma hadn't bought into the idea that curses and fairy tales could actually exist in the real world. Only in Storybrooke, would she learn that there is a fine line between worlds. Many worlds existed. We'd see them all. We'd learn that our own story, in itself, had proven to be a well fabricated lie slash fairy tale of its own. She'd never imagined that she'd been born in a world that humans only read about. Prince Charming and Snow White had protected her from the curse by putting her in a tree that transported her into the real world.

That life hadn't been any easier than if she'd endured the curse that the Evil Queen had cast. Years of loneliness, unanswered questions, trouble, and insecurities, even into adulthood plagued her. She'd have a son and give him up. As I said earlier, Henry had been the one to reintroduce her to the fairy tale world. Henry would be the one to make her see the truth of his words. I guess, not so much is words, but the words and pictures of a square, thick book.

I may not have been there to witness Henry taking the curse on himself that day at the apartment. She'd worn me the day her kiss broke the curse. The odd happened, the impossible occurred. David and Mary Margret realized who they were just as David almost left town. Rumple and Regina didn't like it. The whole story came out.

Regina had cast the curse to make sure that the only happy ending would be hers. Once the town had heard that, she'd almost died for it. Turns out that histories don't go away and bitterness is immortal if allowed to be. Regina hated Emma because of what she represented. Emma, Henry's birth mother, threatened everything that Regina had built. The battles would carry on between them for a time.

Regina changed. Peace was made. Emma had found a way to bring the best out of Regina after years of the worst gushing forth onto others. One of Regina's terrible acts had broken Emma's heart. Just as she and the Sheriff, Graham, had found their way to each other, Regina crushed his heart. It turned out that Graham had been the Huntsman that she'd sent to kill Snow White. Another scar added to the giant one already carved into her essence.

Then came our future, a glimpse you could say. His name, Captain Hook. His real name…Killian Jones. When Henry had gone missing, he'd taken Emma, Charming, Snow, and Regina to Neverland, yet another world Emma never thought she'd see. No, I wasn't on that journey. Yet I heard the whole tale the next time she slipped me on. During that adventure, Emma had found Neal once again. She'd met Peter Pan, the nefarious. This Pan defied what she'd expected, this was not the childish boy she'd been exposed to in cartoons. She also kissed Killian. The rhythm of her heart changed for a time after that. Apparently, she'd done something to him as well. He pursued her with determination.

Emma had managed to hit him with the Bug and put him in the hospital. Their friendship played out in the heart that beat beneath my material. They flirted. They worked together in other adventures. Another curse beared down on Storybrooke as she and Henry left. Emma forgot about Storybrooke. Life moved on for them both. Everything in her life took on a normal veneer. That's the problem with veneers, they are often deceiving. The man she would've married in the real world turned out to be a…get this…Flying Monkey. Killian's reappearance at the apartment not long before dusted off some of the fantasy element of her new life. It wasn't until after she'd drank the potion that reality pushed aside fantasy.

Instead of Regina, Emma had to face …the Wicked Witch of the West or Zelena. The adventure she brought changed everything by the end. He and Emma slipped into the past. One love story had to be protected. It was. Another one had begun to take shape. Killian had made his sacrifices to find her. According to pirate lore, the heart of a captain is with his ship. Thus, the Jolly Roger, became the key to Emma's heart. Killian had traded his once beloved ship for the only other thing that mattered most to him, Emma.

The intensity of her heart beat and the rhythm by which it operated never returned to its original order. Anytime I found myself against his chest, they seemed to beat in harmony with each other. She was falling in love. Somehow insecurity of the past wormed its way between love and the present. Only this time, Killian stayed in pursuit, never allowing it to have its way with her heart or future.

I suddenly became a memory myself for a time. She had disappeared into yet another world. When she returned, I had no place in her plans. Her white bun and black leather replaced me. Her red lips replaced my red leather. I'd heard through the closet that she'd become a Dark One. In the world that she'd gone too prior, she'd done the same to Killian. Talk about a mess. People say that love overcomes. True love does. Even in the darkest of places, they still loved each other.

She took me in to the underworld. She'd sworn to herself and her family that she'd find Killian and bring him back. The heart that beat beneath me left no doubt that she'd succeed and die trying. We found him, in the pits of Hades. She'd placed her heart on the scales of true love. True love had flowed between them. Only he didn't come back with us to Storybrooke. He remained in Hades. Another scar formed. Only this scar faded the day of his "Funeral". Killian came back to her along with the symphony that his absence had silenced. The harmony between them only swelled in a never-ending crescendo.

Life in an abnormal world carried on. Adventures came and the two of them only merged together in soul. Desire grew in them both. They were going to win. Neither of them accepted failure to that end. My life changed too. It used to be me and a few of my sisters hanging in her closet. One day, the closet changed to a pattern of color. Killian and Emma not only shared the same love, now they existed under the same roof. The next step in the process of true love soon followed.

Killian proposed to her, not once, but twice. The first had come with circumstances that had precipitated into a fight and then a new adventure back to Neverland. You guessed it…Emma found her way to him and pulled him through yet another portal. Now that proposal had a far better ending than the first. The once cold, silent house changed in more than just temperature. True love has a sound. I won't say anything more about that. (Somethings aren't meant to be divulged, Thanks for understanding.)

The wedding didn't almost happen. Blame the Black Fairy and her twisted plans. Add in a twisted minion, the son of Belle and Rumple, who used deadly plans to taking away her happy ending. Like love, music is powerful. True Love's kiss broke one spell. From what I'd heard in outings, Rumple had been the end of the Black Fairy. (Surprise, surprise…She was his mother. Got to love Storybrooke. Why does it feel like Springer…as in Jerry Springer seem more fitting?)

Killian and Emma married, reaffirming what I had felt over and over in the past whenever I got near his black leather. They'd taken their happy beginning.

Hold on…that is not the end. There's more.

Then again you probably already figured that out.

A new curse poured out of the bell tower of the library and covered everyone at the wedding. Reality changed once more. The Black Fairy made good on her promise. Emma ended up in a mental hospital, aware of the fact of her status as Henry's mother. Henry labored without end to make her remember the wedding and make her remember Killian, the man that she'd passionately loved. The Black Fairy may have been dead in one world, but she controlled the world of the cursed. The pain in her heart as the book burned in the incinerator had made me wish that she'd just do the same to me. She'd given up hope.

Even in the cursed world, miraculous occurrences happen. Her heart returned to the one that I'd loved being snuggled up to. Killian's heart and black leather came in a close second. How about I call it a "Tie"? Before the final battle, I felt the warmth of two people in love.

The ending to the final battle turned out predictable yet unexpected. Emma had me on as she faced Gideon on that cold dark street. Her soul and heart fought each other. Her mind knew that there would be no satisfactory way to go about this. Lose-lose. Darkness won no matter the choice made.

The sword clattered to the street. There'd be no fight, only sacrifice. Gideon had granted her no mercy. With a heartless thrust, he ran his sword through her, piercing my back material. I rested against wet pavement while Emma lay lifeless. The end?

Nope. Not the end.

Warmth returned to her body moments after the fall. I think it was Henry. Judging by the grip around her son, it had to be. Waves of light emanated from her, altering the sad ending. The tear made by the sword pulled itself back together, as if nothing had ever touched it. Gideon disappeared from the street. Bell and Rumple returned to Granny's holding a baby boy. Where had that vile man disappeared to?

Life returned to a new Storybrooke-normal. Emma and Killian brought the home to life now that they were married. Henry grew up into a teenager. Killian and Emma became a little more aware of what awaited them with Henry. Their life without him would begin all too soon. I suspected a greater change would follow this occasion. The two of them stayed in bed longer these days and were practically inseperable.

Henry left for realms unknown. Emma's personality changed and so did the rumbling of her stomach. Killian smiled and Emma shared the thought at first.

"Don't tell Henry." Emma advised.

"Aye Love." Killian wrapped his arms around her.

Henry called.

Killian, Emma, and Regina rushed through the portal to his aid. Killian sent Emma away while he rushed to Henry's aid. He didn't return from the errand until later. Only he appeared different. When Emma told Henry about the pregnancy, Killian reacted odd. Something to fix?

The Killian I knew looked and felt like the man but his behavior didn't match. Emma hadn't noticed until we stared up at TWO Killian's. One of Killian leaned against a barrel, bleeding. Our Killian stood. Our Killian asked Emma to heal him as an act of mercy.


End file.
